Democratic deficit

When you're a mainstream political party you can ignore voters' views as long as the other main parties do the same.

On immigration and on the EU a swathe of voters are ignored because there is nowhere for them to go. The BNP is deeply racist, while UKIP is led by an unprincipled self-interested mountebank keen above all to chop down anyone with a glimmer of ability who might therefore detract from his pre-eminence.

How the main parties must be grateful for Nick Griffin and Nigel Farage. We can bracket them as dead ends to a truly representstive democracy.

Meanwhile yesterday's Telegraph letter writers were on the button. We have become a borough of Brussels. But our province is a dysfunctional democracy.

P.S. Add to that list man-made global warming, aka climate change. All our main politicians want to throw buckets of our money at it, even though there is no theoretical basis for specualtion that carbon dioxide is a major contributor to whatever changes in world climate may or may not be happening.